Another Year Gone By

It hardly seems possible. But my dazed brain says it's so: another year, marked by the Fair, is only memory. Except for maybe the pound or two I might have gained....

I tried this year to mitigate the inevitable reality of eating fair food. The medical booth, which serves as Fair Command for us on duty, is also stocked with all the ususal belt busters: processed chips, candy, and pop. We do have water, and I drink it a lot.

It still amazes me how this period of frenetic energy is so exhausting. I came home last night after my shifts, and made like a vegetable. Then I realized I wanted away from it all, and returned to a book. But he fact remained; I spent two days essentially walking the fairgrounds as a Medical Responder, or standing at ease, whether at the Public Education Booth, Safety House(a fire simulation experience), or the Fire Suppression truck. And I came home tired.

I'll let you know now exactly what it is that makes me and the rest of us tired. it's the same insidious reason that fire fighters and EMTs have shorter lives by 7 years on average. It's a little chemical called adrenaline. It makes you go from zero to "hero" in no time flat. It makes for fight or flight, and isn't supposed to be on allthe time because it creates stress.

So I can't walk around the fair at ease. I'm in a constant state of hypervigilance. For example, I'm at the Pub Ed booth, where we let kids spin a big wheel and then ask them a safety related questions. They get a prize no matter what. Even the little guy who was absolutely mezmorized by just spinning the wheel got a prize because he was so spell bound. It's a riot. I love it. However, kitty corner(any ideas where this phrase camer from?) from the Pub Ed booth is the dog kennel, and between the sight of people falling down and the sounds of angry dogs, I bolted into action. I can do so only because my adrenaline is already in mid-gear, just looking for a boost. And the radio on my hip....

Thankfully, the dogs were well groomed enough to be more bark than bite, and no one was hurt, except for the uncharacteristic display of their "well trained" dog. So it was back to stand by mode, and digging on teaching the kids and their parents little tricks that could save their lives.

And eventually eating. And since we have to reamin on the fair grounds, it means fair food. Which I tried to control this year, and think I hit on something. Part of it is not wanting that "I ate the whole thing" problem. Because if I suddenly need to go, or am assigned to a call off the fair grounds, I don't want that feeling slowing down my body or brain, which in our heat this year, makes us do what the fair goers do: suddenly reverse the eating process.

So I didn't get a funnel cake this year. Or cotton candy, sundays, or any of the stick foods. I had a scone Sunday morning with coffee. And , the roasted artichokes were good, as was the roasted corn. And if I actually skip lunch, and eat mid afternoon, I then eat less over the day. And I don't hamper the ability to jump out of stand by.

On Saturday, besides the four patiente we had at once, two of which we sent via ambulance to the hospital, we had 18 non-Fair calls over the course of that day, including a marine call which was quite serious. That's a busy day. That's a day when we look for people ready to succumb to heat, or teens fighting, or unsafe activities of carnies around their rides, or people choking, puking, bleeding, passing out for whatever reasons that have culminated at this marking of the year on our island.

When Sunday night rolls around, I'm finally glad to be done with the dozens of smells, the cacocphony of sounds, the myriad sights, the fair food tatses, and I'm ready to go home to a quiet house. I'm ready to reflect on my shifts, and what we did and could do better. I'm ready to let my self get out of stand-by, which is sometimes difficult to do. I think I need to hit the training room this week.

Another year begins....